Rob Maclean: Magic Moult, no fears for Accies, United hitting form, Dons, Rangers

By Rob Maclean
BBC Scotland

Rob Maclean continues his series assessing the main talking points from the weekend's football action.

Interest growing in magic Moult

Birthday boy Louis Moult has a growing list of admirers and not just those relieved Motherwell fans who hope his derby winner on Saturday has nudged their team towards Premiership safety.

Moult's Sunday celebrations on turning 25 would have been all the sweeter on the back of a crucial goal in the drop-zone dogfight.

There was something scruffy about the header which looped into the Hamilton net and dragged Motherwell three points clear of their second-bottom Lanarkshire rivals.

But it must be the most important goal Moult has scored in his two years at Fir Park - and there have been plenty of them.

Eighteen goals last season, now 18 goals this season for the Stoke-born striker, and there's sure to be plenty interest in buying Moult out of the last year of his Motherwell contract.

Hamilton built to bounce back

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Hamilton enjoyed a day to remember at Easter Road when they won promotion in 2014

Have no fears for Hamilton. Not if they end up in a play-off battle to avoid relegation. Nor if they do drop back into the Championship.

Accies are built to survive the yoyo effect of swapping one league for another. They didn't spend beyond their means when they moved up three years ago and consequently won't have to make a drastic adjustment if they go back down.

Of course Hamilton hope it doesn't come to that. They're favourites now to face Falkirk or Dundee United and play-off for their place in the Premiership.

But if that's the way it all pans out, remember their fightback against Hibs three years back when they were two goals down from New Douglas Park, and turned the tie around at Easter Road to win promotion.

Hamilton are made of strong stuff. They won't give up their top-flight status without a fight.

United front line could be the key

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Blair Spittal is one of several Dundee United players who appear to be hitting form at the right time

Dundee United want to limit their time in the second tier to the bare minimum and they could be coming on strong with perfect timing.

After a forgettable first half at Cappielow in the first leg of their Premiership play-off quarter-final, they proceeded to swat aside the Morton challenge, scoring two goals in Greenock and three at Tannadice on Friday night to comfortably clear the first hurdle on a 5-1 aggregate.

There's still a long way to go, and Falkirk will be tough opponents in the semi-final, but Ray McKinnon's team could be coming to the boil at just the right moment.

Tony Andreu is top class, Simon Murray is a menace and a goal-scorer, Blair Spittal has recovered from injury and recovered his form, and Scott Fraser is back in business as well.

That's a lot of attacking talent. If United can defend properly, the Tangerine dream can come true.

Dutch champs do Dons a favour

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Feyenoord, managed by former Rangers midfielder Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, won the Dutch title on Sunday

Aberdeen will have two weeks extra to prepare for their latest assault on Europe.

You could call it a Dutch of good fortune - well, you could - because it was Feyenoord's clinching of the title in Holland on Sunday which has effectively given the Dons a Uefa ranking boost.

Aberdeen will get a bye into the second round of qualifiers for the Europa League and that means they'll kick off their campaign in mid-July, a fortnight later than they might have done.

Let's hope that helps their chances of making it to the group stages because we need all our European representatives to be making a better impression.

And, as of this past weekend, that includes St Johnstone alongside Celtic, Aberdeen and Rangers.

Hill leaving with head held high

Clint Hill might feel hard done by after being let go by Rangers, but I was really impressed with his reaction to the call.

Just days after being told he was surplus to requirements, the 38-year-old centre-back was pressed into service at Ibrox on Saturday due to Danny Wilson's injury.

He hit the post with a header in the 2-1 defeat of Hearts and his defensive resilience won him the man of the match award.

With self-deprecating humour afterwards, Hill reckoned it must have been a bad game if he was voted top player.

The truth is the veteran has been one of Rangers' most consistent players this season and he'll look on with interest as Pedro Caixinha tries to improve the quality of his squad.

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